“WHAT KIND OF PERSON
WOULD BECOME A COP?
WHAT KIND OF PERSON
WOULD SO HAPPILY AND
SO OBEDIENTLY PRESS THEIR
BOOT INTO THE BACK OF
ANOTHER HUMAN BEING?
WHAT KIND OF PERSON
WOULD CRACK OPEN A
SKULL AND SAY THEY ARE!
JUST DOING THEIR JOB?
WHAT KIND OF PERSON
WOULD BECOME A COP?
NEVER A FRIEND.
ALWAYS A BASTARD”
-BLACK LODGE PRESS
“there is today not a single individual who does not have the elements of fascist feeling and thinking in his structure”.
-Natasha Lennard, quoting Wilhelm Reich in “Being Numerous: Essays on Non-Fascist life in crisis.”
KEEP SCROLLING DOWN FOR SHORT AND LONG EXPLANATION.
IN SHORT:
UPRIGHT: Brutality, attraction to punishment, addiction, restriction, erotics of what is deemed unacceptable.
REVERSED: Shedding self-restricting beliefs, detachment from the public perception, exploration of the shadow.
IN DEPTH: An immense decapitated pig head hovers mid-air. It has been printed on a graphic banner that lurks over the scene below—a symbolic reminder of the omni-present violence and domination in everyday life. Below, a cop-riot ensues with frenetic energy. Batons swings rhythmically, The pigs on the street move with the reactive energy of policing—the spirit of punishment. Their helmets whip back and forth, scanning for the slightest hint of disobedience and other forms of ‘criminality’. He is looking for the reason, for the cue to unleash himself. As he tackles a young man, he utters, “Don’t move motherfucker”. It’s at this moment he feels like a super-hero—a perfect composite of his idealized self, melded with the idols of his preferred video-games and movies. He is not necessarily a sadist (although he likely is), but perhaps he is just doing his job, he might even lament the violent aspects of his profession. He wants you to know it gives him nightmares. And yet he believes all of this violence is necessary to maintain ‘the peace’.
This card does not strictly refer to police brutality, it is the indication of a general brutality applied towards both the self and others. Somewhere at some point most humans feel a desire to see their perceived enemies punished. Pay attention to the instances in which an anti-authoritarian goals (one’s own and those of others) manifest and materialize as authoritarian impulses and behavior, or invoke authoritarian response and retribution.
This Devil card invites us to consider the ‘dangers’ of accusations and absolution as personal fetish. This can appear in our personal lives as physical, psychological, and even substance abuse.
Somewhere at some point most humans feel a desire to see their perceived enemies punished.
Pay attention to the instances in which an anti-authoritarian goals materialize as authoritarian utterances and behavior, or invoke authoritarian response and retribution. This Devil card denotes the libidinal part of ourselves that wants to see others suffer, and the inverse desire to hold a monopoly on suffering.
FURTHER READINGS:
On Microfacism. Gender, War, and Death
-Jack Z. Bratich
The Mass Psycology of Fascism
-Wilhelm Reich
monthlysmokeandmirrors.com 